Part 1 of Body Image: Can I please think about literally anything else??

And why is my brain out to get me??

TW: ED + Body Image + Weight

Long time no see!

Body image is an interesting topic and a dreaded experience. Lots to talk about, lots to think about… and lots to be in distress about lol. I’m thinking this will be an early post of many coming ones on this topic — it’s so wide that you can’t simply nail it in one sitting you know?

I’ve struggled with body dysmorphia and poor body image since I was in 6th grade. All of a sudden I entered the horrific world of body culture that the early 2000’s/2010’s had to offer — body shaming, anorexic behavior glorification, low rise jeans, etc etc. Culture was asking us to all be a triple zero. I in particular had no weight to lose; being naturally underweight I was quite, quite thin. And yet here I was, trapped in a debilitating lens that would not allow me to see myself as anything but severely overweight. This is actually crazy. What’s crazier is that this is a common mentality in most of the population, women and men alike — no matter their size. (This is important!)

I can’t speak for men (I am curious though and need to dig into their side of this issue more). But since this has persisted in my life — it was not until going to recovery for an eating disorder in 2020 that I started to slowly but surely make some progress — I have some grounds to offer some wisdom, hopefully even some help. And some grounds to seriously sit and contemplate the impact body obsession has on ones psyche and walk with the Lord. Let’s discuss!

I went from having atrocious body image to what I would describe as decent, even maybe good body image depending on the day. You know what? I would actually say that I do love my body. And my body is by no means the standard culturally approved body type. I’m not even sure at this rate that it ever will be. And honestly? Praise God. Because God didn’t design our bodies to be a standard size. He LOVES variety and uniqueness! When he created the world, He created things of every kind and shape and size — humans are the same! Best of all, He calls that kind of creation GOOD. God also didn’t design our worth and success to come from how our bodies look. It quite literally doesn’t say that ANYWHERE in the Bible. Anywhere. You know what the Bible does say about body image though?

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.”
Proverbs 31:30

“Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They put their trust in God and accepted the authority of their husbands.”
1 Peter 3:3-5

Interesting, no? True beauty is found in a heart for God — not in the current body or fashion trends. Also, can we just acknowledge that the concept of a “body trend” is insane?? You can’t change genetics and health in the way you can change a shirt style. Your body was meant to be cared for, not manipulated to please society.

I’ll also note that I don’t think all forms of weight loss are unhealthy — it’s an interesting tension to hold, one that I don’t think I have fully thought out to write on yet. What I do think though is that our culture has deemed losing weight to be the only way to be healthy, a statement contrasting real evidence and data on health. Being skinny does not equate being healthy. At my skinniest I was my sickest, yet I was praised for how I looked. We should really start to look into research more as a culture... again though, a topic for another day.

Back to the scriptures! There is an interesting thread going around in Christian circles suggesting that 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body”) is “proof” that we need to workout aggressively, lose weight, etc. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be healthy/move our bodies — but this verse is talking about sexual sin and not sleeping around, honoring God with your body in that regard. Context ammirite 🤪 God is abhorrent to SIN, not the way your body looks. There’s zero scripture telling us where our weight should land. Instead, it tells us how our HEARTS and MINDS and SPIRITS should look, which will ALWAYS be more important to God.

What God does call us to though is good stewardship! I am an advocate for healthy movement, good nutrition and balanced meals in addition to putting just as much effort into our emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing. I believe that we should honor God by taking care of our bodies (aka stewarding our bodies well) since He is the one that gave them to us. This form of self-care is what I believe to be the antidote to poor body image. In taking care of ourselves, we retrain our minds to love us for how we are in the moment versus only loving ourselves if we look a certain way. A genius design by God, no? He calls us to good stewardship, and in being obedient heals our minds. I love Him!!!

(*Extra reminder that stewarding your body well does not mean you have to lose weight and never eat sugar!!*)

What’s beautiful about good stewardship is that it isn’t a regiment. It’s freedom and balance — freedom to live and have fun and eat yummy food and desserts and have rest days, and then balance to make sure our bodies are getting the energy, nutrients and care they need. This allows us to have the strength and mental clarity to carry out the things God has called us to!

The farther I go the more convinced I am that body dysmorphia is a spiritual attack on humanity. If the Bible, which was written thousands of years ago has specific direction to body image then that tells me this is a tactic the enemy has been using for literal ages to distract us from the beauty and enjoyment of living that God wants to give us.

I was talking to some friends the other day about body dysmorphia and mentioned that being so occupied and afraid with how we look gives us no space to think about the things of God. My friend responded that thinking about our body image all the time gives us no space to think about literally anything else. Not in the sense of thinking about anything other than God, but in the sense that there’s SO much to think about in this life! GOOD things! It’s kind of emo to be body checking 24/7 when I could be thinking about how good the sun felt today or praising God for how beautiful the sky is tonight or how excited I am to see my friends tomorrow or how refreshing this lemon lime poppi is. I’m just saying — it’s a device to dull us down and numb us out.

If you are stuck in this vicious cycle, first of all I’m sorry. It’s so hard and if you haven’t gone through it it’s so hard to describe how hellish it is. My prayer for you is that you are able to 1., reprioritize what taking care of yourself looks like and 2., give yourself abundant grace. I know personally how hard it is to “just not care” about how you look, and how impossible it feels on some days. Little by little, lean into the Lord and take Him at His word that the most important thing about you is your heart. He is faithful, and if you ask He WILL give you next steps of how to access the freedom He’s already bought for you in this area.

Controlling your body does not and will not control the future — it will only hurt you.

All this to say; nothing is impossible with God. He can heal the sickest mind and set the most trapped spirit free. I’m talking more about this in Part 2 (along with practical coping mechanisms), but I testify to the goodness and faithfulness of God. I am not who I was, and I don’t look at myself the way I used to. There IS freedom available!! Hallelujah!!

Take heart friends — He has overcome. ❤️

-Annie